| Popis: |
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two instructional approaches on fifth-grade children’s attitudes toward and preference for music sung in various languages. Specific questions included: Are there differences in children’s attitudes toward music as a result of instruction? What is the relationship between familiarity with a language and general attitude toward songs in that language? How do music preference decisions differ by language of songs and instructional group? Twelve intact classes from four suburban elementary schools in Columbus, Ohio (N = 209) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: concept-based multicultural instruction, sociocultural-based multicultural instruction, or concept-based instruction with no multicultural content (control group). The dependent measures consisted of music attitude and preference scores. A test was developed consisting of nine musical excerpts, three sung in Spanish, in English, and in Mandarin Chinese. Students responded to nine statements about each musical excerpt using a Likert-type scale and answered one open-ended question. Pretest scores revealed that participants were significantly more positive toward the English-language songs than the songs sung in the other languages. There was also a significant difference between the Spanish- and Chinese-language examples, in favor of the Spanish. Self-reported familiarity with a language was found to positively correlate with subsequent attitude toward songs in that language. After the treatment period, children in the sociocultural instructional group expressed significantly more positive attitudes toward the foreign language songs than were those in the other groups. There was no difference between groups on the English-language songs. Musical preference scores were consistently lower than attitudes scores in each language. These scores generally paralleled the patterns of attitudes toward language in the context of song, although there were no significant differences in preference between the two foreign language songs. These results have implications for music educators who strive to instill values that facilitate openness to and tolerance for music and people of diverse cultures. |
